By In times past there was often a steady clip of new major AA and AAA video games coming out from a range of publishers.
That seems to have died off somewhat in the 2020s thus far as the live-service gaming trend has taken hold and the expense of making games has become prohibitive to the point that there seems to be fewer major releases than ever before.
Now, Newzoo (via Kotaku) has released its second annual games industry report which suggests some potential reasoning as to why this is happening thanks to data showcasing consumer spending and gameplay in this sector in 2023.
It turns out new games are having a hard time breaking through as players are spending more time in already-established franchises and live service games.
In fact, just 66 game titles accounted for 80% of all computer game playtime in 2023 – and 60% of all playtime was for games made before 2018.
27% of all playtime in 2023 went on just five games in particular – “Fortnite,” “GTA V,” “League of Legends,” “Minecraft” and “Roblox”. 23% of playtime went on annualised sequels like “FIFA” or “Madden”.
Just 8% went to new, non-annual games which would include titles like “Diablo IV,” “Baldur’s Gate III” and “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”.
Just one dedicated single-player game, “Starfield,” made the top ten playtime list across console platforms with most slots going to usual suspects like “GTA V,” “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” “Counter-Strike,” “Apex Legends,” “The Sims 4,” “Valorant,” “Rocket League,” and “Fall Guys”. “Fornite” took the top spot on every platform.
The report indicates that gamers are spending less and less time in new games and more in already-established franchises and live-service titles – making it harder for publishers and developers to find an audience with new titles.
Finally, the report indicates the games industry grew by 2.6% in 2023 to reach an astonishing $93.5 billion in revenue.
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